Grandmother Barbara Bennett will head to village in Suriname in dug out canoe

She's heading to the rainforest, south of the Atlantic coast, and the only way to get there is by dug out canoe. You can forget about golf carts, Barbara prefers kayaks. "Kayaking is what you make it. You can white water or you can flat water. It can be exciting or it can be quite spiritual." But Barbara will have to avoid becoming prey, and not the spiritual kind, as she paddles through the tributaries of the Amazon in the country of Suriname.

Caption: Crossing the rapids on the upper-Saramacca river (Suriname). It takes a few days by such a boat before you reach the first road again. Along these rivers are Maroon villages, i.e. villages of descendants of 18th Century run-away slaves. Unlike in Brazil or Jamaica, some 20,000 Maroons are still living in Suriname 's rainforest having retained their most original and traditional Afro-American culture. Photo: Ahron de Leeuw Flicr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

CLEVELAND -- This was the last Mother's Day one local woman will get to spend with her kids and grandkids, for a couple years at least.

She's going half a world away and up a river full of piranhas, in what one senior calls "retirement."

Barbara Bennett's bags are packed. She's ready to hop on a plane. But unlike other seniors she's not sitting on a sunny beach. This grandmother is retiring to the jungle.

She's heading to the rainforest, south of the Atlantic coast, and the only way to get there is by dug out canoe. You can forget about golf carts, Barbara prefers kayaks.

"Kayaking is what you make it. You can white water or you can flat water. It can be exciting or it can be quite spiritual."

But Barbara will have to avoid becoming prey, and not the spiritual kind, as she paddles through the tributaries of the Amazon in the country of Suriname.

Barbara joined a growing number of American's who volunteer in the Peace Corps, later in life.

Now this mother of three and grandmother of seven who shared her wisdom on many family excursions will now share life experience with people who live in areas that may not even have electricity.

She'll be there almost two and half years. She expects to be working with village groups on whatever they make or manufacture.

Barbara's son, Vince says it's no surprise, she's always been on the go, always had a sense of adventure.

Her sense of adventure began with Sophie, Barbara's mother.

Barbara's church held a brunch in her honor on this Mother's Day.

Her family says she'll be missed while she's gone, but they're sure she'll be fine. She leaves early Wednesday and her kids say they will make the long trip to visit her.

PCOL serves half millionPCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more.

Suspect confesses in murder of PCVSearch parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences .

Warren Wiggins: Architect of the Peace CorpsWarren Wiggins, who died at 84 on April 13, became one of the architects of the Peace Corps in 1961 when his paper, "A Towering Task," landed in the lap of Sargent Shriver, just as Shriver was trying to figure out how to turn the Peace Corps into a working federal department. Shriver was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. Read Mr. Wiggins' obituary and biography, take an opportunity to read the original document that shaped the Peace Corps' mission, and read John Coyne's special issue commemorating "A Towering Task."

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace CorpsSenator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

He served with honorOne year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical ClearanceThe purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" againThe LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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Story Source: WKYC

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Suriname; Older Volunteers; Flickr

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